Tales of the Supernatural
by TheInvisibleShapeshifter
Summary: The theory of a life after death is an interesting concept, and more real than most would like to admit. Ghosts who haunt their place of death, vengeful spirits, souls who just can't leave, and spirits who come back to protect their loved ones are everywhere; not to mention the other paranormal beings out there. Series of oneshots, Nordic-centric ghost/horror stories.
1. A Father's Love

The man came out of nowhere.

One second, Matthias was driving carefully down the winding road, Lukas looking at the map in the seat beside him. The next instant, the car was swerving madly as Matthias wrenched the wheel to avoid the man, just barely managing to pull to a stop on the icy street.

"You okay?" Matthias asked his partner worriedly.

"I'm fine." Lukas responded. He turned to look at Matthias.

"What was that?" He asked. Matthias shrugged.

"Looked like some guy. He came outta nowhere! I didn't see him 'till he was almost directly in front of the car. Um... sorry." Lukas promptly smacked him.

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault. Let's go find that guy; I want to know what the hell he was doing." Lukas unbuckled his seat belt and opened the passenger door, Matthias quickly following his lead.

The two stepped out into the rain. The thin drizzle had been falling since late morning; it was early evening now. Mist drifted around them, covering the ground and the sea far below. Matthias, closest to the railing on the edge of the cliff, swiftly walked around to Lukas's side of the car. The man had never been a fan of heights. The sound of the waves crashing against the face of the cliff did nothing to help his fear either. He shivered. One would not survive long if they were to fall.

"C'mon." He said, grabbing Lukas's hand. The two began walking to where Matthias had seen the man. At first, they saw and heard nothing but the mist and the sea. Far from civilization, on a twisting road on the edge of a cliff, there was not much to hear in the first place. Their vision was limited by the thick mist; everything felt muted and damp. Without warning, a young looking blonde man appeared out of the white. At first he looked startled, but relief quickly replaced that expression.

"Oh, thank goodness! Please, I really need your help! My car slid and crashed further up the road. It's about to fall, and my family's still in there!" Any trepidation at the sight of the stranger vanished from Matthias's mind at those words.

"Where are they?" He demanded, striding forward.

"Less than a minute up the road." The man replied. Matthias broke into a run. He heard another set feet join in, but only one. _Did Lukas stay behind to call for help?_ He wondered. There was no way anyone could get out there fast enough to aid them, so Matthias wondered why his husband bothered. Forcing those thoughts out of his head, he focused on running.

Finally, he saw the car. The front end was completely wrecked, giving him the conclusion it must have spun into the face of the cliff before it slammed through the railing. Said front half hung precariously off the edge, the only things keeping the vehicle from falling being the weight of the back end and a bush.

Matthias looked through the back window first. He could tell the driver and the person in the passenger seat were already dead by their limp forms and bloody blonde hair. In the backseat there was a car seat. He quickly ran to the side door of the car. How he hadn't heard the baby's sobs before was a mystery to him, but he knew he had to save it.

Matthias tugged at the handle. It wouldn't budge. He would have to break the window.

Searching the ground for a weapon, he noticed one of the bags had fallen out of the already broken back window (he wasn't stupid enough to try reaching the baby from there). It must have been a camping pack or something, because he could see a sturdy torch sticking out. Bounding over, Matthias grabbed the large flashlight and returned to the window. Pulling it back behind his head, he swung the torch.

_Crack._ A large split appeared on the glass, with several spider web cracks arching out from it. Matthias swung again. The glass, already weakened by the first blow, shattered under the force of the second. Matthias reached in and snatched up the -by now wailing- baby. He cradled it to his chest and took a step back from the car.

"Shhh..." He whispered. "It's gonna be okay now. I've got ya." The crunching of feet on the roadside gravel alerted him that the others had caught up. Matthias turned, expecting to see his husband and the strange man. Instead, only Lukas stood there. There was something off about the shorter man; he seemed paler than usual.

"Where's the other guy?" Matthias questioned. Lukas's normally emotionless eyes met his.

"I don't know. He vanished." Was the answer he gave Matthias._ Vanished? Nobody can just vanish! Then again, with this mist..._ Lukas walked toward the car. He passed by Matthias and the baby in order to look through the driver side window. What little color left in Lukas's face disappeared. He stumbled backwards, eyes wide with shock.

"Lukas...?" Matthias ventured. Lukas turned and beckoned him to look as well. Matthias nervously stepped as close to the window as he could with it hanging half off the cliff.

_What could be bad enough to scare Lukas like that?_ He wondered. As he had glimpsed before, the man had blonde hair. He must have been short to have the seat pulled up so far. And he looked familiar. Matthias had seen that face. He had seen that face on the man who had run up to him, begging for help. He had seen this man earlier, but earlier the man hadn't had a chunk of metal stabbing through his abdomen, nor the blood caking the side his head.

This man was dead. But he wasn't when he appeared out of the mist earlier.

Matthias staggered back, jaw going slack and eyes widening. A chill settled over him, and he clutched the baby closer to his chest.

_One last request, _a voice, that wasn't his or Lukas's whispered.

_ Take care of him for us._

Matthias looked down at the baby in his arms. It had stopped crying the second the cold air descended upon Matthias. _Peter, _was embroidered on the baby's shirt. Matthias made a promise to the dead parents of this baby boy right then and there.

_ Don't worry. I'll take care of him._ The cold trickled away, and soon they were left alone on a nearly empty stretch of road, at the scene of an accident. At the place a parent had come back to in order to save his son.


	2. Just A Rumor

When Tino screamed, Berwald and Matthias came running, so fast they nearly knocked Emil over.

"What's wrong?" Matthias asked. Tino's eyes were wide with terror, and he seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack.

"Did you see it!? Did you see that thing!?" He asked (more like shrieked). Matthias, Berwald and Emil looked around the room, shaking their heads when they saw nothing but old and new furniture.

"Th-there was a monster! It was all bloody and gross an-and slimy and-and -" Both Matthias and Emil interrupted.

"Gross? Slimy?" Emil said.

"A monster? What makes ya say that?" Matthias asked, just as incredulous. "'Cause if it was just some bug or mouse or something-" Tino was indignant.

It was _not _a bug or mouse! There was really something there, something like, I don't know, half human!" He said furiously, his voice squeaking from his scare and anger at not being believed. Berwald began to walk toward the window.

"It wasn't outside, it was standing right there!" Tino pointed to where Emil was standing; he quickly got out of the way when Matthias went over to examine the spot.

_As if a year of studying archaeology makes him a forensics specialist, _Emil thought, rolling his eyes.

"There's no slime or anything, right?" Emil called, only to be interrupted by Berwald's question.

"An'thin there?" Though he didn't know the man very well, Emil liked Berwald the best out of the three. Unlike Matthias, who was loud and noisy, or Tino, who was way to cheerful for his own good, Berwald was quiet and minded his own business. As for the other two... there was no way they could share this house peacefully.

"Nope." Said Matthias, popping the 'p'. "Just the tracks we've made moving in." They all looked at Tino. The normally cheerful blonde scowled.

"Don't give me that look!" He snarled.

"What look?" Matthias asked.

"That look that says 'It's-just-Tino-seeing-things-and-overreacting'! Don't deny it, l know you were thinking it!" Tino said angrily.

"No we weren't!" Matthias said, much too quickly for it to possibly be the truth. Tension hung thick in the air, and Emil wondered which one would explode first. Berwald attempted to diffuse the bomb.

"Tino, Matthias, that's enough. We're all tired 'n on edge, 'n yer lett'n yer tempers get the best of ya." The giant of a man placed a calming hand on Tino's shoulder.

"You guys think I'm just imagining things." Tino stated accusingly, shaking Berwald's hand off his shoulder. "That I listened to those stories about this place and got carried away with my daydreams." The look on Matthias's face said that was exactly what he was thinking.

"Just because a murder was committed in this house doesn't mean I believe in those things." Tino crossed his arms and turned his back to them.

"Here, in this room." Said Emil.

"Right here." Matthias echoed.

"As the poor guy dozed in his chair by the fire," Emil continued, "his dear brother beat him to death for the sake of a man who didn't really love either of them." They all turned to look at the fireplace, but of course, the poker used in the murder had been taken by the police as evidence.

"And we all know the murderer confessed before hanging himself in the jail cell." Tino continued, shuddering.

"But he never told where he hid the body." Matthias added. "The rest of the story's just total affald. The dead guy came back to haunt his brother, wielding the murder weapon- the fireplace poker- until the brother turned himself in. And the ghost followed him to jail and drove him to suicide."

"I never gave th' story a s'cond thought." Said Berwald.

"Until now." Said Emil.

"Unt'l now." Said Berwald.

"This place is kinda depressing." Said Matthias.

"I told you we shouldn't have rented it." Said Tino. The atmosphere, though it had cooled down since their squall, was still tense and heavy; it was like they were waiting for something to happen.

"I think we could use some air." Said Emil, smirking as he made his way to the window. This was always his favorite part. With perfect timing, he threw the window open just as an owl hooted.

As predicted, Tino overreacted and screamed. Both Matthias and Berwald jumped. Emil went over to Tino and patted him on the back, whispering mockingly, just loud enough for the Finn to hear, "There, there." Tino started screaming louder.

Finally, Emil grabbed Matthias's fake axe, waving it at them threateningly.

"Let's get out of here!" Matthias yelled. Though it had taken the three nearly three hours to unload all their stuff, it took only thirty minutes for them to repack and cram everything into the van. Emil stood on the porch, watching them and chuckling.

"Goodbye!" He called as they scrambled into the van and drove off. Turning, Emil went through the door and back into the house. He knew he shouldn't keep scaring prospective housemates off if he ever expected to move on, but it was just so _fun. _He went over and sat in his favorite chair (despite what happened to him in it, he still liked the old thing). Perhaps later he would go visit his special place in the lower garden.

* * *

**Affald- trash, garbage (Danish)**

**This chapter felt rushed to me after I wrote it, so my apologies if it is sloppy. I forgot to put this in the first chapter, so here's the disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia in any way, shape or form. Reviews are much appreciated, but if you are too lazy to do so, I completely understand ;)**


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